ProRodeo Sports News - February 2, 2024

TIME CAPSULE THE SCHNEIDERS

All in the Family PRCA ProRodeo file photo Frank Schneider competes in saddle bronc riding back in the day. Schneider won two bull riding world championships in 1933 and 1934 and was the bareback riding world champ in 1935.

Remembering Hall of Fame brothers – Johnie & Frank Schneider

BY TRACY RENCK J ohnie Schneider was a unique world champion who had the soul of a poet and the heart of a cowboy. Born in 1904 in Stockton, Calif., he began riding on July 4, 1923, and competed until 1941. During his auspicious career, Schneider won the Rodeo Association of American (precursor to the PRCA) world championship in bull riding three times (1929-30 and tied in 1932 with Smoky Snyder), the all-around title (1931) and was the champ three times in steer decorating (1931-32, 1936), which was a form of steer wrestling where a cowboy placed a ribbon attached to a rubber band around the nose or horn of the steer.

Schneider was a terrific athlete who was ahead of his time as he worked hard to be in peak physical condition. He also entertained rodeo audiences across the country in the 1920s and ’30s with his trick riding. He said, “Roman racing was as close to flying as you could come … just your two feet on top of two horses.” He was one of the most versatile rodeo performers, as he competed in bull riding, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, steer roping, tie-down roping, and steer decorating. “The best thing about rodeo was that it gave a lot of us a start in life,” Schneider said. “There weren’t many options back then for a fellow trying to make it.” He said he was “born to be a cowboy” and didn’t like school much. In

ProRodeo Sports News 2/2/2024

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